Short answer: Reporting published in September 2022 identified Peter Thiel’s investment firm, Thiel Capital, as a backer of 28, a cycle-tracking and wellness app created by Evie Magazine founders Brittany and Gabriel Hugoboom. The app’s current App Store listing presents it as a paid health-and-fitness service, not proof of clinically validated contraception. Fertility-awareness methods are medically recognized, but a calendar prediction or wellness program is not automatically a reliable way to prevent pregnancy. Reproductive data also deserves scrutiny, especially when the developer’s App Store disclosure says it may collect contact information, identifiers, usage data and diagnostics.
The investment is historical: the underlying Vice report is dated September 6, 2022, and Futurism’s account was published September 11, 2022. The available evidence does not establish a new August 2026 investment announcement, the amount invested, or that Thiel personally directed the deal.
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What 28 is—and what it is not
28 has appeared under the names 28, 28 by Evie and 28.co. It is associated with Evie Magazine and its founders, Brittany Hugoboom/Martinez and Gabriel Hugoboom. The product combines period and symptom logging with education about cycle phases, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle and fertility awareness.
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Those labels do not answer the most important medical question: whether 28 is merely a period journal, an educational fertility-awareness aid, or a contraceptive system. The original coverage described a cycle-based nutrition and wellness program and connected its messaging with opposition to hormonal contraception. That is different from proving that the app is an effective pregnancy-prevention method.
What Thiel Capital actually backed
Vice reported on September 6, 2022, that Thiel Capital was backing the menstrual-cycle-focused company. Futurism summarized that reporting on September 11, 2022. The evidence supports saying that Thiel Capital backed 28; it does not provide a complete cap table, an investment amount, or proof that Peter Thiel personally wrote a check, operated the company or medically endorsed its claims.
It is also not evidence that Thiel Capital invested directly in Evie Magazine’s publishing business, or that the investor obtained access to users’ health records. Linking the investment to a plan to acquire reproductive data would be speculation without documents showing that motive or data-sharing arrangement.
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Why Evie Magazine’s connection matters
Evie is not a neutral health institution. Its editorial output has attracted criticism over anti-abortion arguments, opposition to hormonal birth control, anti-vaccine and anti-trans commentary, and claims critics characterize as pseudoscientific or conspiratorial. Futurism cited an Evie article about Argentina and abortion that it described as factually false, along with other anti-abortion material. Those are criticisms of identified editorial content, not proof that every 28 feature is medically unsound.
Keep four things separate when evaluating the product:
- the views of individual Evie contributors;
- the publication’s editorial positions;
- claims made by the 28 app itself; and
- the founders’ political or cultural associations.
The connection is relevant because an app can turn a publication’s audience and worldview into a subscription business. It is not, by itself, a clinical safety assessment.
What medical guidance says about fertility awareness
Fertility-awareness-based methods are real methods of pregnancy planning. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) says they can use cycle timing and signs such as cervical mucus and basal body temperature: ACOG’s overview. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) treats fertility-awareness methods as a category that can include cycle monitoring, fertility signs and some FDA-cleared contraceptive software: CDC guidance.
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|---|---|---|
| Perfect use | Fewer than 1–5 pregnancies per 100 users in the first year | Applies to fertility-awareness methods broadly, not automatically to 28. |
| Typical use | Approximately 12–24 pregnancies per 100 users in the first year | Reflects real-world adherence and method differences; it is not a 28-specific trial result. |
A calendar estimate is not interchangeable with a validated fertility-awareness protocol. Irregular or anovulatory cycles, PCOS, illness, stress, travel, medication changes, postpartum recovery, breastfeeding, perimenopause and recently stopping hormonal contraception can all make predictions harder. Anyone trying to avoid pregnancy needs a defined plan for fertile days—such as abstinence or barrier contraception—and fertility-awareness methods do not protect against sexually transmitted infections.
Does 28 replace birth control?
Do not treat a subscription or a cycle forecast as a contraceptive guarantee. The original reporting characterized 28’s public positioning as hostile to hormonal birth control, but that characterization must be distinguished from the app’s current instructions. Before relying on it, look for explicit answers to these questions in the app and its terms:
- Does it claim to prevent pregnancy or only estimate cycle phases?
- Does it identify fertile days using observed signs, or mainly predict dates from a calendar?
- Does it tell users to abstain or use condoms during fertile periods?
- Does it disclaim medical or contraceptive use and recommend clinician advice?
- Does it encourage stopping hormonal contraception, and if so, explain alternatives and risks?
Those details determine whether the service is education, symptom tracking or a method someone is being asked to trust with pregnancy prevention.
How strong are the nutrition and hormone claims?
Healthy eating, regular movement and sleep advice can be sensible without being unique to any menstrual phase. A stronger claim—such as a precise phase-based diet that reliably “balances hormones,” changes fertility or reverses contraceptive side effects—requires accessible, high-quality evidence.
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What happens to reproductive data?
Period dates, symptoms, sexual activity, contraception, fertility status and pregnancy-related information can reveal highly sensitive facts. Apple’s listing says 28 may collect contact information, identifiers, usage data and diagnostics linked to the user, while some location, identifier and usage data may be collected without being linked. This is a developer-supplied App Store disclosure, not an independent privacy audit: Apple’s 28 listing.
Read the current policy and terms before creating an account: 28 privacy policy and 28 terms. Look specifically for:
- where records are stored—on the device, in the cloud, or both;
- retention periods and the process for deleting an account and backups;
- analytics, advertising and other third-party processors;
- export, Apple Health or other health-platform integrations;
- what information is required to use a free or paid tier; and
- disclosures allowed for legal requests or business transfers.
Deleting an app does not necessarily delete cloud copies, exports, device backups or data held by processors. Shared phones, family accounts and enabled health integrations create additional exposure. A 2024 FTC-hosted paper documents broad user concerns about period-app privacy in the post-Roe era: FTC-hosted privacy research. It does not show that 28 gave data to law enforcement, Palantir or political groups.
Who should be cautious?
People avoiding pregnancy
Use a method with clearly stated effectiveness and instructions. If fertile-window uncertainty would create serious consequences, add condoms or another clinician-recommended method rather than relying on a generic calendar.
People with complex or changing cycles
PCOS, endometriosis, postpartum and breastfeeding transitions, perimenopause, illness and medication changes can complicate interpretation. A clinician or trained fertility-awareness educator can help determine whether a particular method is appropriate.
People trying to conceive
Cycle records may help organize observations, but persistent irregularity, pain or difficulty conceiving warrants medical evaluation rather than progressively more app content.
People concerned about privacy
Minimize optional entries, avoid integrations you do not need, use a strong unique password, review subscription renewal settings and request deletion through the documented process. Do not assume a “private” label means end-to-end encryption or that no employee or vendor can access data.
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Verified facts versus speculation
| Supported by the available record | Requires qualification |
|---|---|
| Thiel Capital was reported to back 28 in September 2022. | “Peter Thiel invested” is shorthand; the amount and personal role are not established. |
| 28 is associated with Evie’s founders and promotes cycle and wellness features. | Calling it “the rhythm method” requires confirmation of its current methodology. |
| The app has appeared in Apple’s App Store with subscriptions and listed data categories. | App Store labels do not independently verify privacy practices or clinical effectiveness. |
| Fertility-awareness methods are medically recognized. | That does not validate every period app or make 28 FDA-cleared contraception. |
| Evie content has drawn criticism over reproductive-health and culture-war claims. | That association does not prove every app recommendation is pseudoscientific. |
Practical verdict
28 may be useful as a cycle journal or wellness-reading service for someone who understands its limits. The evidence does not justify treating it as automatically reliable contraception, individualized medical advice or a privacy-free vault for reproductive information. The central concern is the combination of a politically aligned publisher, uncertain evidence behind some health messaging, a commercial subscription model and intimate data collection—not proof that Thiel personally controls users’ records or that every feature is harmful.
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